My Kingdom Come Book 1: The Saints We See (Complete)

Chapter 18: Meetings

661 standard years after the signing of the Alliance treaty

Hathu jogged through the snow towards the main school building his plasma rifle bouncing against his back. He was still buttoning his shirt, his breath pluming out in the chilly air in front of him.

"Hathu, you want bread before it's all gone?" Lateth called as he passed.

"I have a meeting."

"Well, take some with you." She tossed a roll at him.

He caught it. "Thanks." He held it in his teeth while he finished buttoning up his shirt. He took a bite of the roll, ran a hand through his wet hair, and went inside, down the hall to the principle's office. He swallowed down the last of the bread as he opened the door.

Several adults and older students were gathered around the desk in a variety of chairs that had been dragged into the room over the last few weeks. The principle's seat was left open for Hathu.

Everyone in the little leadership group was supposed to be equal. All figuring out how to solve problems and coming up with new survival and security ideas together, but in reality, everyone looked to Hathu for the final word in things and relied on him to come up with most of the strategies for keeping the school safe and supplied.

Hathu let out a little sigh. He unslung his rifle, leaned it against the wall with everyone else's rifles and sat behind the desk. "Good morning." He said looking around the circle of faces. Everyone looked tired and worn. "Where's Novina?"

"She's only fifteen, Hathu. She's been up half the night on patrol, I sent her to bed." The woman who had spoken was named Walesa. She had been a guard at the prison. She was at home, off shift, when the prison break happened. Hathu and his rescue teams had gotten to her before Nediz's slaughter squads.

Hathu stared at her for a moment, then he nodded. "Okay, good." He leaned back in his chair. "What's the latest news?"

"They're building rafts again." Narish looked exhausted. "This time they are building them in the prison yard."

Hathu nodded. "Okay. Anything else?"

"Supplies are running low." Arvah said. "We're due to have another supply ship come in two weeks, but if it comes it'll land at the prison docks. That will leave us with nothing and the rebels with...everything. Plus a ship.

"Food is tight, but the hunting and foraging has been enough to stretch out our supplies and keep us fed and there's no sign that's going to change any time soon. It's the fuel I'm mostly worried about. It's getting low and if we run out of fuel, we can't run the generators. We have to have electricity. It's the middle of winter. We're going to start losing people to the cold if we don't figure out what to do about the fuel."

"Okay. Thank you Arvah." Hathu made a mental note to speak to Arvah privately after the meeting. He was the youngest member of the leadership group. He carried a lot of responsibility on his shoulders and never complained about anything. He had also lost his only parent in the uprising.

"Anything else?"

Walesa jogged Bakresh with her elbow. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "You went hunting alone again last night?" His pleading gaze almost begged Hathu to deny it.

"I did."

Bakresh swallowed. He glanced at Walesa then looked back at Hathu. "You really can't be doing this, Hathu. You made the rule yourself, 'no one leaves the school grounds alone'."

"Right." Hathu said briskly. "So if that's all-"

"Nediz has people out there just waiting for a chance to kill you, Hathu." Walesa interrupted. "What are the rest of us going to do, if something happens to you?"